Passion Between the Pipes

By TIM WHARNSBY
Globe & Mail, April 28, 2005

Goaltenders can hide emotions behind their masks. Not Martin Brodeur.
The Canadian goaltender's beaming smile shines through his protection, whether in practice or in a game. His passion for hockey is unmatched. He loves the 1-on-1 competition against the game's best. He enjoys beating teammates in practice and opponents in games.
But, most of all, Brodeur gets a big-time kick out of winning championships.
"From day one, this kid hasn't changed," said New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello, who drafted Brodeur 20th overall in the 1990 National Hockey League draft.
"I have tremendous respect for him. He is a pleasure to be around because of his enthusiasm. He loves to be around the rink. He respects those who are talented and is not jealous of anybody. He doesn't blame teammates and knows when to be quiet when there is somebody to blame."
When No. 30 takes his position in the Canadian goal against Latvia at the world championship on Saturday, he will be after the only major hockey title that has eluded him. The 32-year-old Montreal native has three Stanley Cup rings, an Olympic gold medal and a World Cup title.
Next up? A world championship.
If not for the NHL lockout, Brodeur might not have received his shot at the world championship. This is only the second time since he began his NHL career 11 seasons ago that he hasn't been backstopping the Devils deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs.
After returning from a charity tour in Europe in late December, friends asked Brodeur what he was going to do for the rest of the season if the NHL lockout could not be resolved. He was quick to answer that he was looking forward to playing for Canada at the world championship.
The only story you need to know about Brodeur's passion for hockey is how, as a kid, he decided to become a goaltender. He initially was a forward, but his team needed a goaltender and and asked for a volunteer.
"It was an easy decision," Brodeur said. "Playing goal meant I could play every minute of every game."
It didn't hurt that his father, Denis, a well-known sports photographer, was a capable goaltender. He won a bronze medal with Canada at the 1956 Olympics in Cortina, Italy.
The great Patrick Roy was Brodeur's hockey idle growing up, but his life hero is his father. That's why he is such a free spirit. That's why he makes time for the fans and reporters.
His father was a newspaper photographer for Montreal Matin and later the official photographer for the Montreal Canadiens and Montreal Expos.
He would often relate stories about the athletes he met on the job.
"My dad would come home from work and tell me about the different hockey and baseball players, the good ones and the bad ones," said Brodeur, who comes from a family of two girls and three boys, including his brother Claude, who was a pitcher in the Expos' organization. "For me, I knew what my father thought of these guys, the guys he liked and disliked.
"Early in my career, I think he made sure that I knew everybody had a job to do and to make time for the fans and the reporters. I enjoy that part . . . most of the time."
Brodeur was involved in a marital dispute two springs ago. It became public in the middle of the playoffs and later ended in divorce. He answered questions about it one day, then tucked away the off-ice problem, focused on the task at hand and won his third Stanley Cup title.
"What makes him tick is that, first of all, he has a passion for the game," Lamoriello said. "He enjoys playing it for the pure satisfaction of playing the game. I don't think money motivates him, but winning does.
"He personifies what an athlete should be-he is constantly challenging himself to get better. He wants to be as good as he can be."
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Brodeur doesn't have a goaltending style that can be labelled. He simply does anything he can to stop the puck.
Last week, he didn't give up a goal in his half of Canada's 3-1 exhibition victory against the United States in Halifax. In the dressing room, he received a host of compliments from his teammates, praising him on his performance, even though he hadn't played a meaningful game since the World Cup of Hockey in September.
He smiled and told his teammates, "I just tried to do what my old coach Jacques Lemaire always said, 'just get between the puck and the net.' "
Brodeur enjoys studying goaltenders and their styles.
"I love playing for Canada because then I can watch great goaltenders like [his backup] Roberto Luongo and watch how he plays," Brodeur said.
"I don't think I really have a style. When I was a young, developing goaltender I watched Patrick [Roy] a lot and he was doing fine. But he hadn't won anything yet. He was a butterfly goalie.
"My goaltending coach at the time told to me to make sure that I did anything to stop the puck. You don't want to give the shooter an idea of what you are going to do, stand up or go down, come out or stay in the net or stack my pads."